“Unnatural Causes” Kick-Off Event

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) is teaming up with WFSU, the Public Broadcast Station, to begin a series of scheduled community screenings of the PBS documentary Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? This four-part series goes beyond popular conceptions linking health to medical care, lifestyles, and genes to explore evidence of other, more powerful determinants: the social conditions in which we are born, live, and work. The first episode will air Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 3:00 pm.

To jumpstart the community film screenings, we are inviting key stakeholders to the Unnatural Causes kick-off event at the studios of WFSU-TV at 6:00 p.m., Friday, January 8th, 2010 (see flyer). The event will be an evening of collaboration to address the health inequities that keep many American residents from living a long and healthy life. We invite you to help bridge this gap by building a shared understanding and language around the root causes of health inequities in Tallahassee and surrounding areas. The event will provide a preview of episode one of Unnatural Causes and we will hear from panel participants as we examine how the overarching themes of the film relate to our community.

For more information, contact Miaisha Mitchell, Executive Director of the Greater Frenchtown Governor’s Revitalization Council at 850-224-8404 or email her at mmiaisha@aol.com.

Update, 1/6/10: The agenda for the Kickoff Event on Friday, Jan. 8, is now available here (PDF).

Next HEAT meeting is February 16

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, February 16, at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. We are evaluating whether our usual meeting space at TMH will be available. The key goal for the February meeting will be to reflect on events we are organizing around the local re-broadcast of Unnatural Causes in January and to discuss our next steps for building on these events. We also anticipate updates from the Food Environment and HEAT-BP Steering Committees and discussion of new funding opportunities for community capacity building.

Mark you calendars now and stay tuned for further announcements about the meeting location.

Next HEAT meeting is Nov. 17

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in Conference Room A at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Dinner will be available for $5. Here are the highlights from the proposed agenda:

• We will get a report from the Unnatural Causes Workgroup about planning for events related to the local re-broadcast of Unnatural Causes in January.
• We will get an update about progress in developing the HEAT Food Policy Council.
• We will discuss plans to pursue a funding opportunity from NIH for community-based participatory research on childhood obesity prevention

Mark you calendars now for the subsequent monthly HEAT meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 15 (location to be determined).

FAMU Forum on Health Care Reform

FAMU will hosting a forum on Health Care Reform on Wednesday, November 4, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m., in the New Pharmacy Building. The goal of the forum is to inform the public about the history and current status of healthcare reform. Confirmed speakers include Dr. Henry Lewis, Dr. Raymond Bellamy, Dr. Joseph Webster, Dr. Edward Hollifield, Dr. James Ammons, and Al Lawson. Carmen Cummings will moderate the discussion.

The forum is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. For more information and details about the location, please see the FAMU website.

Next HEAT meeting is Oct. 20

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in Conference Room A at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Dinner will be available for $5. Here are the highlights from the proposed agenda:

• We will get a report from the Unnatural Causes Workgroup about planning for events related to the local re-broadcast of Unnatural Causes in January.
• We will discuss next steps in our research and policy advocacy for reducing childhood obesity through changes in the food environment.
• We will continue discussions to assemble a Steering Committee for HEAT-BP, our community-based participatory research project on stress, racism, and high blood pressure among African Americans in Tallahassee.

There is flexibility in the agenda at this point, so please contact Lance Gravlee if you would like to suggest an item for the agenda.

We hope to see you there!

New NIH Funding for Community-Linked Infrastructure

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently announced a new funding opportunity to support the development of community-academic partnerships for health research. The goal of the program is to “support the development, expansion, or reconfiguration of infrastructures needed to facilitate collaboration between academic health centers and community-based organizations for health science research.” As part of this infrastructure, NIH has established the role of Community Research Associate (CRA), “who will be a community representative and serve as a primary liaison facilitating communication and collaboration between the academic health center and the local community. Applicants must identify at least one CRA.”

For more details, see the full announcement for Building Sustainable Community-Linked Infrastructure to Enable Health Science Research (RC4), RFA-OD-09-010. Letters of intent are due on November 12, with full applications due on December 11.

IOM Report on Local Action to Reduce Childhood Obesity

Reducing childhood obesity is a recognized public health priority in the U.S. as a whole and in Leon County in particular. Many HEAT partners are involved in work to address this problem, and we will soon learn whether our application to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will result in new funding for policy advocacy to improve the local food environment.

A recent report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will be useful in our efforts. The report outlines actions that local governments can take to curb childhood obesity. As the IOM explains:

The committee sought action steps that are within the jurisdiction of local governments; likely to directly affect children; based on the experience of local governments or sources that work with local governments; take place outside of the school day; and have the potential to promote healthy eating and adequate physical activity.

Visit the IOM website to download the full report.

Next HEAT meeting is Sept. 22

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. in Conference Room A at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Here are the highlights from the proposed agenda:

• Hopefully we will be able to report good news from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation about our application to the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program for work on policy change to promote access to healthy foods in Leon County. Fingers crossed!
• We will get an update on community events we will help to organize during the re-broadcast of Unnatural Causes (http://unnaturalcauses.org/) on WFSU in January.
• We will discuss our project on stress, racism, and blood pressure. I will present preliminary results on experiences of racism among African Americans in Tallahassee, and we will discuss the ethical and political implications of collecting genetic data in the later community survey.

Please join us and add your voice to the conversation. Please contact us if you would like to reserve a dinner ($5) or if you have other items you’d like to add to the agenda.

Events, Featured

Next HEAT meeting is Sept. 1

We have postponed the planned August 25 HEAT meeting to avoid a conflict with the Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform. The next HEAT meeting is now scheduled for Tuesday, September 1, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, Conference Room A (enter through cafeteria). We will get on update on recent activities and discuss plans to develop a Food Policy Council to address childhood obesity and the food environment. Dinner will be available from TMH catering for $5. Please contact Lance Gravlee to reserve a dinner or to suggest agenda items.

Town Hall Meeting on Health Care Reform

On August 25 at 6:00 p.m., there will be a town hall meeting on health care reform in the Tallahassee City Commission Chamber. The panel will include Congressman Allen Boyd, Dr. Raymond Bellamy, and Dr. Joseph Webster. Mary Ann Lindley from the Tallahassee Democrat will moderate the discussion. We have postponed our August HEAT meeting, which was originally scheduled for the same time, to avoid a conflict with this important event.

The public is invited — and many are sure to turn out — so plan to get there early to add your voice to the discussion.